Northern Switchgear Antrim SFC quarter-final
Cuchullain’s, Dunloy 2-9 St Brigid’s, Belfast 1-15
ST Brigid’s may have deservedly won this absorbing Antrim SFC quarter-final in the resplendent surroundings of Cargin on Sunday afternoon – but the greatest salute of the day must go in the direction of Dunloy’s Seaan Elliott.
We’ll get around to how St Brigid’s navigated their way to the semi-final stages for a second consecutive season but not before acknowledging the individual brilliance of Elliott.
If there’s a better Gaelic footballer in Antrim than the Dunloy ace, manager Andy McEntee hasn’t found him yet.
Wild horses wouldn’t drag Elliott away from hurling, his first love, but it’s a crying shame for the Antrim footballers.
Elliott is that good he would light up any forward line in the country. Lightning quick and a player of scandalous talent, Dunloy’s number 15 almost singlehandedly hauled the north Antrim men back in contention after trailing 1-8 to 0-4 at the break.
Everything he touched had the travelling Dunloy contingent drooling and the St Brigid’s supporters looking at his spellbinding skills through clasped hands.
He made Gaelic football look ridiculously easy. He’s such an unconventional talent too because he took shots from angles and distances that have been virtually coached out of the game.
He swung over his first of three points from play in the 15th minute and 10 minutes later he out-stripped the St Brigid’s back-line only to be denied a major by Declan Heery in goal.
He grabbed another beauty in first-half injury-time and nailed his last one in the 39th minute.
Seconds earlier, Elliott hit a beautiful kick pass with the outside of his right foot that set up Keelan Molloy to nonchalantly side-foot into St Brigid’s net from a narrow angle that reduced the arrears to 1-11 to 1-6.
Five minutes later, the north Antrim men raised another green flag to trail by just two points. St Brigid’s had only themselves to blame for allowing their commanding lead to be frittered away.
Corner-back Peter King spilled possession under pressure in his own ‘65.
Dunloy substitute Anthony Smith picked out Nigel Elliott with a sublime crossfield pass and the dual star confidently struck to the net.
At 1-11 to 2-7 with 42 minutes on the clock, it was game on.
Tactically, Dunloy don’t always make a lot of sense - but no group of players back themselves quite like the Cuchullain’s.
They shouldn’t have stood a chance after posting an awful first-half but their off-the-cuff football and dogged determination almost reeled St Brigid’s in.
Molloy made it a one-point game in the 53rd minute after a brave run from defender Chrissy McMahon but the Belfast men always looked a threat on the counter-attack and capable of finding what was needed.
In the closing minutes, St Brigid’s outscored Dunloy 0-3 to 0-1 and last year’s beaten county finalists were a busted flush.
St Brigid’s may lack the individual flair of a team like Dunloy - but their methodology was enough to see them through to set up a repeat semi-final against Cargin.
Dunloy will be cursing themselves for the head start they gave their opponents. Their kick-outs yielded little and their defence was too easily by-passed by the marauding St Brigid’s attackers.
Enda Downey rarely misses on his left side - and yet Dunloy allowed him to cut in to take a handy score in the early exchanges.
The impressive Patrick Finnegan breezed passed Deaghlan Smyth on 16 minutes to set Downey up for another score.
Big Jack Dowling couldn’t believe the space he was afforded three minutes before the interval to pop the ball between Dunloy’s posts.
And just before the half-time whistle sounded, Patrick Finnegan hammered the ball to Dunloy’s net to put St Brigid’s 1-7 to 0-2 in front.
It didn’t flatter John and Paddy McGuckin’s side one bit. It was as if Dunloy didn’t have the appetite for the ugly aspects of the game and put their trust in their forward line producing some magic.
Nigel and Seaan Elliott and Keelan Molloy duly obliged in the second half, but leaking 1-8 in the opening period proved fatal.
In between all the wonderful stuff Dunloy were playing after half-time, the resourceful James Smith kept the scoreboard ticking over for St Brigid’s.
Shea Downey’s powerful run from number six and off-load to Smith in the 59th minute was the killer blow that put two points of daylight between the sides.
Veteran attacker Michael Smyth fired over seconds later – but Dunloy simply couldn’t get level with Conor Downey and Rory McErlean (free) sealing victory in stoppage-time.
Dunloy will rue their first half showing, while it’s exam time again for St Brigid’s in the guise of defending champions Cargin.
It’s the stress test that must come if the south Belfast men are to reach their first-ever senior county final.
Cuchullain’s, Dunloy: S Doherty; C Kinsella, E McFerran, O Quinn; C McMahon, D Smith, T McFerran; R McGarry, A McGarry; N Elliott (1-0), C Cunning (0-2 frees), E O’Neill; C Gillan, K Molloy (1-3, 0-2 frees), S Elliott (0-3) Subs: T Smith for D Smith (39), M Smith (0-1) for E O’Neill (51), K Fitzpatrick for C Gillan (51)
St Brigid’s, Belfast: D Heery (0-1 free); P King, J Finnegan (0-1), S Campbell; R Carlton (0-1), S Downey, R Boyle; M Cummings (0-1), J Dowling (0-1); N Duffy, P Finnegan (1-0), J Smith (0-4); E Downey (0-3, 0-1 free), C Downey, C McNicholl (0-1 free) Subs: J Morgan for S Campbell (h/t), J Toner for P King (47), Conor Downey (0-1) for Calum Downey (55), R McErlean (0-1 free) for C McNicholl (62)
Yellow card: P King (36)
Referee: K Parke